


The History of the Land of Water

by ChefBryardee



Category: Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-20 01:42:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12422433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChefBryardee/pseuds/ChefBryardee
Summary: This is the history of the Land of Water as prescribed in my own roleplay. It delves into the relationship between the have's and the have-not's of the many decades leading up to the foundation of the Village Hidden in the Mist as well as the official Land of Water itself.





	The History of the Land of Water

 

Prior to the warring states period, the conglomeration of islands afloat in the Middle Sea were wholly decentralized; despite its abundant resources, the collective tribes of the archipelago were fairly “primitive” and the diversity of its demographic meant only a spartan trade network existed among them. Isolated from one another, outsiders were typically shunned, in some cases purportedly never returning from whence they came after arriving on the various shores of the island chain.

However, those with the wherewithal and resources to introduce commercialization to the island nation would eventually come crashing through the white rapids to change the region forever.

The tribes of the western islands were infamous for raiding the nearby eastern peninsula – now known as the Land of Waves – of the main continent, yet the disconnected relationship between these many tribes, as was the case for the vast majority of the archipelago aborigines, proved itself their ultimate bane: unprepared for the overwhelming reprisal mete out by the far more modern forces which invaded their shores, they were easily and swiftly wiped out.

Soon after, trade ports were opened on the western islands as the many exports unique to the region brought immense wealth to the already-affluent clans now settled there, who immediately looked eastward for expansion. Using their immense purchasing power, parcels of land were slowly but surely negotiated away from the presiding tribesmen, though the validity of these claims were roundly disputed by the other tribes. Where silver didn’t suffice, steel would; taking advantage of the enmity between the aborigines, temporary allegiances were formed between the samurai clans and tribes to usurp more territory – only to turn on their fellows in arms immediately afterward. 

Soon enough, the natives of the archipelago were left with no other peaceable option but to adapt to the changing times, typically settling to work the fiefs of their newfound lords. Smaller cadres of insurrectionists not so content to coexist among those threatening their way of life persisted, however; guerilla-like assaults on port warehouses and merchants rose exponentially during this period, sparking a short-lived civil war between the samurai and the rebels, many of them ancestors of the founding clans of Kirigakure.

Hopelessly outnumbered against superior arms, these rebels would meet their end in an infamous massacre on Ikuji Island. Following swiftly in its wake would be a proverbial golden age of peace, prosperity and the complete modernization of the island chain, the cost of which was levied upon the souls of the near-1,000 men, women and children slain that day.

The outsider would indeed be forgiven for thinking this land of milk and honey to be too good to be, however; the brutal and unmerciful hand of the ruling lords went to great lengths to remove any vestiges of ill-will and discontent throughout the island nation. Rumors of working camps and the torture of citizens ran rampant in the rest of the world, though even a whisper of such “libel” within the nation’s borders meant swift retribution. Yet it was under this very climate of fear that the seeds of revolution would be sown.

As if an act of divine retribution, famine struck the archipelago; though the lowest caste of society would be hit the hardest, dozens of once-influential vassals were soon cast down among the lowly commoners who once toiled in their fields as many clans found themselves unable to maintain the quota of  _koku_  necessary to keep their estates. As entire villages began to wither away in the face of widespread food shortages, banditry by the hand of former nobles and lifelong serfs alike became common in the rural areas outside the fortified provinces of the few remaining clans. In this time of nationwide destitution, the populace began to turn away from their lords for answers, instead looking to a rising and unforeseen movement which had migrated from the mainland and was destined to light the fires of a revolution that would change the island nation forever: Ninshu.

Under the nose of the many vassals and lords now feuding amongst each other for fertile land, the underground movement would evolve into an outright rebellion against the gentry, lead by Sugitani, the individual recognition as the progenitor of all shinobi in the Land of Water. Completely blindsided by the unexpected advent of chakra-based combat, these samurai clans who stood to lose much temporarily banded together to face an entire nation of people who had already lost everything they had known; as the oldest clan with the greatest number of vassals under their employ, the Mizuno clan became the figurehead and the primary objective of the revolution. The superior battle experience and advanced strategies of the samurai forces clashed head on with the superior numbers of the rebellion in a forty-year conflict that would shape the very earth upon which they all stood and fought for generations to come.

It was during this conflict that the ongoing rivalry between the well-known Amakusa and Yaguro clans began, each of their forbearers meeting on opposite sides of the battlefield over a half-century ago.

When it became clear that the rebellion forces were intent on shifting the methodology of the war to one of sheer attrition, Sozui Mizuno would lay on the line the very future of his lordship by commissioning allies from the mainland to end the conflict in one fell swoop. An entire fleet made its way across the Middle Sea, intent on recapturing the brutality of the Ikuji Island massacre of years past and stamping out the flame of the rebellion for the last time.

Long disillusioned by his follower’s twisted, weaponized iteration of the Way of Ninshu yet committed to ending the bloodshed he feels himself to be solely responsible for, Sugitani would emerge from the shadows to meet the fleet hand on, an act which would cement his legacy as the greatest shinobi in the history of the Land of Water – and possibly the entire world.

Well off the shores of the main island of Shinkiro, Sugitani would go on to crush the 100-vessel fleet singlehandedly by “turning up from under the very feet of the armada all the fury of the sea itself”, as it is written. While making the ultimate sacrifice for his country and his people that day, village historians note the act as the one most crucial to ending the Forty Years War.

The Mizuno clan and the rebel forces would soon afterwards sign the accords which officially ended the conflict, formally doing away with the caste system that had brought the archipelago to its knees and, following the very first Kage summit held in the Land of Waterfalls, established the Village Hidden in the Mist under a just lordship.

Sugitani Keizo would unanimously and posthumously be awarded the title of the First Mizukage.

 


End file.
